Boris won’t say if Carrie will move into Number 10 with him if he becomes PM, because it is too ‘presumptuous’
- Tory leadership favourite says discussing living arrangements is ‘premature’
- Mr Johnson does not want to be accused of ‘measuring up the curtains’
- He insists he is focused on ‘driving for the line’ in battle against Jeremy Hunt
Boris Johnson has insisted talk of his girlfriend Carrie Symonds moving into 10 Downing Street with him if he becomes the next prime minister is ‘premature’.
The overwhelming favourite in the race to take over from Theresa May is expected to be handed the keys to the famous black door on July 24 after he has beaten his rival Jeremy Hunt in what is expected to be a landslide victory.
But the former foreign secretary said it would be too ‘presumptuous’ to start talking about what his living arrangements could be before the result has been finalised.
Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds have been living together for some months. Their relationship was thrust into the spotlight after the police were called to her flat following a row last month
Mr Johnson, pictured alongside Ms Symonds at the Conservative Party’s black and white ball in February 2018, would not be drawn on whether his partner will move into Number 10
There has been intense speculation over whether Mr Johnson, who is in the process of divorcing his second wife Marina, will move into Downing Street alone or with Ms Symonds.
The pair have been living together for some months with details of their living situation put under the spotlight after police were called to Ms Symonds’ flat last month after the couple had a row.
But Mr Johnson would not be drawn on what will happen if he wins the race to be the next prime minister as he also dismissed questions over whether he could be the first modern day PM to get married while in power.
Asked by The Sun on Sunday whether Ms Symonds will move into 10 Downing Street, Mr Johnson replied: ‘I think that comes under the heading of measuring up the curtains and presumptuous.
‘I’m just concentrating on driving for the line.’
Mr Johnson also said it was too early to talk about the possibility of marrying Ms Symonds while he is in office.
‘You know, I just think all that looks just a tiny bit premature,’ he said.
‘I’m still fighting to get votes in.’
The revelation that Ms Symonds’ neighbours had called the police after hearing her and Mr Johnson arguing emerged immediately after the former mayor of London had made it into the final two in the Tory leadership contest.
A recording of the row was passed to The Guardian in which Ms Symonds could reportedly be heard telling Mr Johnson ‘you just don’t care for anything because you’re spoilt’ after red wine had been spilled on her sofa.
News of the row rocked the early days of Mr Johnson’s campaign for Number 10 as he repeatedly refused to answer questions about what had happened.
Mr Johnson said it would be a ‘tiny bit premature’ to talk about the possibility of becoming the first modern day prime minister to get married while in office
‘The difficulty is that the minute you say one thing you obviously are bringing people, your loved ones, your family, into the public domain in a way that is not fair,’ he said at the time.
A photograph of the couple holding hands in the Sussex countryside then emerged a few days later, apparently undermining claims their relationship was in a state of crisis.
Mr Johnson was recently grilled about what role Ms Symonds, 31, could play, if any, if he does become PM.
Initially he said he did not want to ‘talk about that kind of thing’ but then stressed that all decisions as prime minister would be his own.
He said: ‘I will be deciding what we do. And I will be getting on with it.’